Timomachus

Timomachus of Byzantium (or Timomachos, Ancient Greek: Τιμόμαχος) was an influential painter of the first century BCE.

Works[edit]

Pliny the Elder, in his Naturalis Historia (35.136), records that Julius Caesar had acquired two paintings by Timomachus, one of Ajax during his madness, and a Medea meditating the slaying of her children,^[1] which cost him the considerable sum of 80 talents.^[2]^: 178 Scholars have connected these works with the carrying away of a Medea and Ajax from Cyzicus, an ancient port of Anatolia, mentioned in Cicero's In Verrem (2.4.135), and propose that Caesar acquired them there, shortly after his victory at Pharsalus.^[3]^: 308 The paintings, "a pair linked to each other by their rage",^[4]^: 210 were installed in front of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, and remained there until their destruction by fire in 80 CE.

The Anthology of Planudes preserves a number of epigrams on the Medea, which note its incomplete state, and praise its emotional intensity and verisimilitude. Scholars believe that two well-known depictions of Medea preserved at Pompeii were composed under the influence of Timomachus' work.^[3]^{: 309–310}

References[edit]

^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Timomachus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 989.
^ Pollitt, J. J. (26 October 1990). The Art of Ancient Greece: Sources and Documents. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-27366-4. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
^ ^a ^b Gurd, Sean Alexander (2007). "Meaning and Material Presence: Four Epigrams on Timomachus's Unfinished Medea". Transactions of the American Philological Association. 137 (2): 305–331. doi:10.1353/apa.2008.0003. ISSN 1533-0699. S2CID 170134971.
^ Harris, William Vernon (2001). Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-00618-8. Retrieved 12 January 2013.

This Ancient Greek biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[EB1911-1] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Timomachus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 989.

[Pollitt1990-2] Pollitt, J. J. (26 October 1990). The Art of Ancient Greece: Sources and Documents. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-27366-4. Retrieved 12 January 2013.

[Gurd2007-3] Gurd, Sean Alexander (2007). "Meaning and Material Presence: Four Epigrams on Timomachus's Unfinished Medea". Transactions of the American Philological Association. 137 (2): 305–331. doi:10.1353/apa.2008.0003. ISSN 1533-0699. S2CID 170134971.

[Harris2001-4] Harris, William Vernon (2001). Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-00618-8. Retrieved 12 January 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
Artists	ULAN